[RS] When Sora was little, he had a teddy bear that he loved dearly. Riku, however, was intensely jealous of it, in the way that Sora spent all of his time with Mr. Flufflesworth, and so little time with Riku.

Disclaimer: I do not own Kingdom Hearts, nor am I making any
money off this fic. Seiya belongs to Uzumaki-sama.

-o-o-

Author's Notes…

:D
This one's a little late, but it's also for Susie. Happy Birthday!

-o-o-

Dedicated to
Susie and everyone else who has had a stuffed animal that they love or have
loved dearly

-o-o-

Mr. Flufflesworth

"Sora, honey! Look what I found!"

Sora
blinked and looked up from the box he was searching through. His mother was
holding up a teddy bear. In fact, it was a very familiar teddy bear.

"Holy
crap, is that—?"

Seiya
nodded with a little laugh, pushing her bangs out of her eyes. "See? I told you
that searching through this stuff before we decided to sell it would be a good
idea."

"Yeah,
but I had forgotten…" Sora trailed off, guilt tugging at his heart. How could
he have actually forgotten Mr. Flufflesworth, the bear that had been with him
since the beginning of this place?

Holding
out his arms, he accepted the worn teddy bear and ran a hand over his head. He smiled
faintly at it, something warm chasing away the guilt as those button eyes
stared back up at him.

"Mr.
Flufflesworth…" he murmured.

"Well,
I think it's time to take a break," Seiya announced, closing the box she had
been fishing through and standing. She winced a little, rubbing her hands over
her knees. "I'm getting old…"

"Hey."
Sora frowned at her. "You are not getting
old, Mom."

"Thank
you, sweetie," she said, placing a kiss to his forehead. "I'm going to go and
make some lunch. We're beginning to move our things over to the new place
tomorrow, so I want you to make sure you have everything, all right?"

"Okay,"
he replied, smiling.

She
placed her hands on her hips. "What do you want for lunch?"

"I dunno, whatever you feel like making, Mom." He grinned.

"Ai,
Sora, always have to make it hard for me, don't you?" she muttered, shooting
him a dirty look as she began to climb back downstairs from the attic.

"Heehee,
you know it!" he chimed after her.

As
soon as she had disappeared from view, the eighteen-year-old turned around and
placed Mr. Flufflesworth up on a stack of boxes. He watched him for a moment,
tilting his head a little to the side, and then smiled.

"You
and me—we had it rough, didn't we?" he asked it, even though he knew that, like
hundreds of times before, it would never answer him. "Riku made our lives a
living hell."

The
bear watched him silently.

"Well—come
tomorrow, we'll be moving. And then I'm heading off to college and sharing a
dorm with Riku. Crazy, huh?" He smiled faintly. "Crazy
how we've come this far…"

He
picked the bear up, hugging it carefully. "I'm too old for you now, though.
Makes me kinda sad, stupid as it sounds…" His smile faded to be replaced by a
little frown. "Might as well go and help Mom cook lunch. She'll never let me
live it down if I don't. It's our last time cooking together in this house,
after all."

He
set the bear carefully back into the box his mother had found it in. After a
moment, he said softly, "Don't look at me like that. I'm taking you with me to
the new house. It's just—you'll have to be put away. You're so fragile that
you'll easily fall apart if I don't."

The
seconds ticked past, birds chirping outside the house, and still Mr.
Flufflesworth gave him those sad, silent eyes.

He
leaned down, kissing its forehead. "We have some good memories between us, Mr.
Flufflesworth. It'll be all right. I won't forget you again."

And
as Sora headed downstairs to help his mother, Mr. Flufflesworth stared silently
up at the ceiling, bathed in gentle rays of sunlight.

-o-o-

"Hey, Ri-ku! Riii-kuu!"

"What.
Is. That?"

Sora
frowned, clinging to his teddy bear tightly. "What's that supposed to mean?"

Riku's
eyebrow was raised, his mouth open in something akin to disgust. He pointed to
the bear. "It's hideous, Sora, not to mention girly." He waved his hand. "Go
put him inside so he doesn't get fleas."

The
brunette's frown deepened. "You're just jealous! Mr. Flufflesworth is coming
with us on our adventure for today!"

"Haha, that was the point,
Sora." Riku smirked over his shoulder, waving a hand in a gesture of farewell.
Then he turned back around and wrapped his arms around his friends' shoulders
companionably. "Today's a great day
for adventure."

Sora
glared as his three friends headed off towards the shore, laughing and having a
gay ol' time. After a moment, he stared down at the bear his mother had just
given him for his birthday. Lower lip trembling, eyes filling quickly with
tears, he whirled and ran back inside.

He
cried for the rest of the day.

-o-o-

"Hey,
Sora—check this out!"

"RI-KU, NOOO!"

Riku
took his wooden sword and brought it forward with a sharp whap to Mr.
Flufflesworth, knocking him cleanly to the side. But the teddy bear was tied to
a rope hanging down from an old tree, so he just came flying forward again.
Riku hit him again, and again and again, until Sora was tugging at his arm with
teary eyes.

"Stop
it, Ri-ku! Stop!"

"You're
such a wuss, Sora! When are you gonna
learn that teddy bears are for girls!"

"Then
again, you are a girl," Tidus
laughed, and together with Riku, he shoved Sora so that he fell down.

"I'm
not a girl!" Sora cried, tears streaming down his cheeks. "Just gimme back my
teddy bear, you guys! What'd I do to you!"

"Just
having it is enough, Sora," Riku drawled, tapping his wooden sword along his
shoulder and rubbing his chin. "Hey, Tidus, what can we do next that'll piss
Sora off?"

"Heh,
we can bury its body in the sand and take turns throwing Wakka's blitzball at
its head."

"Great idea." Riku smirked and whirled around. He tossed his sword to the side,
climbing up the tree and to the lowered branch so that he could untie the bear.

Sniffling,
Sora eyed the sword, and surreptitiously began crawling towards it as Tidus
laughed up at Riku. When the silver-haired boy had jumped back down, the teddy
bear collapsing into the sand beside him, Sora got to his feet and charged with
a "Ha!"

"Whoa,
Riku, look out!" Tidus cried, but it was too late.

Riku
fell face-first to the ground, clutching his side and
hissing in pain. The tiny brunette had managed to jam it sharply into his
ribcage.

Riku
faked a shocked gasp, then looked to Tidus. "Did you hear him? Me! A stupid-head! Well, I can't say I'm
called that every day."

Sora
wanted to cry. Riku kept making his life so miserable…

"Well,
if you're going to be like that about
it," Riku continued on, "Then I guess we have no choice."

Panic
swelled up within Sora—panic and dread. Riku was actually going to—!

Riku
whirled and took a few steps back. And then, with a great heave of his arm, he
sent Mr. Flufflesworth flying out into the horizon. The bear landed all the way
out to the dark blue of the ocean, and Sora watched with horrified eyes as he
floated for just a few moments before he grew too soaked with water and began
to sink beneath the choppy waves.

"MR.
FLUFFLESWORTH!"

Somehow
Sora managed to tear out of Tidus's hands, and he rushed across the little
island and to the edge. He was about to jump after his bear, but Riku grasped
him around the elbow and hauled him back.

"You
don't know how to swim, Sora!"

"GET
HIM BACK!"

"Psh. I don't know how to swim out there, either."

"I
HATE YOU, RIKU! I HATE YOU!"

And
Sora ran all the way home, sobbing uncontrollably, barely
able to see where he was going.

The
next day Sora found him washed up onshore. The teddy bear had managed to get to
the sandy beach sometime during the night, and when Sora saw him, he
immediately burst into tears and ran over to him quickly, feet splashing
through the water.

His
mother gave him a bath in the washing machine, smoothing fingers through Sora's
hair and cooing that it was all right. He clung to her leg, hiccupping with the
occasional sniffle, and when Mr. Flufflesworth was finally well clean and
completely dry, he threw his arms around him in a tight embrace.

He
loved his bear.

Mr.
Flufflesworth really didn't deserve the horrible things that Riku did to him.

Sora
was never going to forgive Riku, he
resolved.

But
the next day his friend bought him ice cream at the local parlor, and Sora
forgot all about it.

-o-o-

"Sora,
your chest is so girly. Just like
that stupid teddy bear you carry around all the time."

Blushing
furiously and pouting, Sora flailed his arms up and covered his chest. "Shut up, Ri-ku!"

It
wasn't his fault Riku was developing a lot better than he was. In fact, Wakka
and even Tidus were, too. The former
already had biceps while the latter was gaining some abs in the stomach region.
Sora's chest just looked like a… well… a girl's.

"Feisty,
aren't we?" The older boy laughed. It sounded rather obnoxious to Sora's ears,
causing him to bristle. "Give it a rest, Sora—you'll never develop."

"Yeah,
well, at least I have a great personality!" Sora huffed, puffing his chest out.

Riku
immediately burst into laughter again, this time more sincerely, and shoved
Sora's forehead back. The boy collapsed in the sand, staring up at Riku with
flaming blue eyes. "Oh, man, what a riot! Who told you that? Selphie
or Kairi?"

"Kairi
did!" Sora's lower lip stuck out. "So what!"

"Loser." Riku placed his fists on his hips and smirked again. "That's what you
get for hanging out with girls all the time." He leaned close with a teasing
grin. "Pretty soon you'll be wearing dresses."

"Hey,
Riku, give it a break, ya?" Wakka said, shaking his head and tossing his
blitzball into the air. He caught it seconds later.

But
Tidus shook his head, clutching his stomach because he was laughing so hard.
"Leave him alone, Wakka. Riku's so funny!"

Riku
smirked, and if anything, he looked like even more of a stupid jerk in Sora's
eyes.

"I
don't feel like swimming anymore." He sniffed and raised his nose into the air.
"I'm going home."

"Oh,
the baby's gonna go home to cry," Riku mocked, with "Wah, wah!"
from Tidus. They high-fived one another, then collapsed against each other,
laughing.

"Hey,
Sora, I'm sorry," Wakka apologized, even though he hadn't done anything, and
held out his hand to Sora. "Riku's just a jerk, ya?"

"Don't
bother consoling him, Wakka," Riku said darkly with another smirk plastered on
his lips. "He's just being a baby."

"Yeah,
there's nothing you can do about that!" Tidus chimed in, and they started
sniggering all over again. "Someone… who wears diapers… doesn't need to swim in
the ocean, anyway…" he managed to choke out.

"Whooo!" Riku said sarcastically, waving his hands
about in the air. "It's not like it matters, you'll be back tomorrow, anyway.
You've got no other friends besides those girls."

But
he wasn't back tomorrow, or the day after. In fact, Riku didn't hear a word
from him for one week. This was because Sora stayed up in his room, playing
video games, reading, building paper airplanes. In all actuality, he was quite
content without his best friend breathing down his neck, taunting him all the
time, the biggest bully on the island.

Kairi
and Selphie came by to see him, but Sora eventually managed to get out of them
that they were there because Riku had sent them to see what he was up to. And
of course he told them that he was having a great time all by himself, and that
they could tell Riku he meant what he said. Whether they did or not, Sora never
knew.

He
carried around his bear—whom he had named Mr.
Flufflesworth in memory of his goldfish that had died—with him wherever he
went. Rain or shine, snow or sleet, he was with Sora one hundred percent of the
time. Things like friendship didn't matter when it was just him and Mr.
Flufflesworth—the teddy bear was the only thing that he needed.

They
went on adventures together about the house and through the old, stuffy attic.
And sometimes, when the coast was clear of the Obnoxious Duo and Wakka, he
would sneak outside with Mr. Flufflesworth and have a grand adventure all by
himself—and Mr. Flufflesworth, of course.

It
wasn't until Riku's birthday, which was two weeks after Sora's,
that the brunette was forced to visit his so-called "friend". Seiya was
friends with Riku's mother Yukiru, and it was required that Sora come with his
mother to visit Riku.

Like
all mothers do when a child is young and can't afford to buy his friend a
present, Seiya had already wrapped a package and given it to Sora. But the boy
hadn't cared what was in it, so it was going to be a surprise for the both of
them whenever the older boy got around to opening it. Although, with how he was
treating Sora lately, he might not even open it at all just to spite him.

Mr.
Flufflesworth under his arm, he waited beside his mother anxiously, wondering
what he was going to say to his not-a-friend. He had been waiting for Riku to
apologize to him, actually, but as
the days passed, it became more of a stubborn insistence that he meant his word
more than anything else.

"Well,
hello, Sora." Yukiru knelt before the boy and smiled, reaching up a hand to
ruffle his hair. "How are you?"

The
two began to discuss adult stuff, disappearing inside the house, leaving Sora
alone on the doorstep. The boy contemplated actually staying here and refusing
to go into the party, but he knew better. His mom would just find him later and
scold him, anyway.

Fearing
a scolding and her spatula, Sora hurried into the house. It was breathtakingly
beautiful, as always. A painting was in the foyer, and further down the hallway
was little bits of furniture. At the far end was a bay window that looked out
to the backyard, and to the right from there was the room that the party was
most likely being held in.

Sora
moved into this room, the dining room, and placed his gift with all the rest.
There was a huge pile already, something Sora had
never really had the chance to experience. Riku came from a wealthy family,
while sometimes Seiya and Sora had to fight just to get by. It was something
that the boy had always envied about Riku, but he had never said so. Riku would
have just used it against him.

Wakka
and Tidus were in the next room, playing with toy lightsabers and laughing
hysterically. The former was kicking the latter's butt, but neither seemed to
mind, just enjoying themselves. Not seeing Riku anywhere, the brunette headed
up the staircase, wondering if he was in his room.

He
met Selphie and Kairi on the staircase, who exchanged looks with one another at
the sight of Sora. The redhead put her hand on his shoulder and whispered that
Riku was being grumpy and that he should be careful, and then the two clasped
hands and hurried back downstairs.

Sora
blinked and looked down at them. They began chatting with Wakka and Tidus, and
he wondered why Riku would be grumpy on his birthday. Shrugging and deciding to
find out, he continued onwards towards his destination.

It
was quiet upstairs, except for whispering from Seiya and Yukiru. Sora got the
impression that they were talking about a surprise for Riku, but he couldn't
make out anything more than that, because when they saw him, they shut the
door.

Riku's
room was at the end of the hallway, apart with all the others, and Sora knew
that the minute he stepped inside he would be bombarded with paper airplanes
even better than the one Sora had in his room. There would also be the TV
system, and all the game systems, and the cool posters of their favorite
singers. Not to mention all the legos and G. I. Joe dolls.

Pursing
his lips just slightly, Sora gathered up the courage to knock on his friend's
door.

"Go
away," was the immediate response.

Huffing,
the brunette opened up the door and stepped into the room. He found Riku on his
bed, staring down gloomily at a small package that had yet to be unwrapped in
his hands. At the sound of the door opening, he looked up with a glare already
on his face.

"Hey,
didn't I tell you two to go—oh." Surprise flickered through those green
eyes. "Sora." But then his expression darkened a second later, and
he tossed his present onto his pillow, avoiding his friend's gaze.
"What do you
want?"

"To
tell you Happy Birthday," Sora replied politely.

"You
shouldn't say crap you don't mean, Sora." The other boy waved his hand towards
the door. He stopped when he saw Mr. Flufflesworth, who was dangling from
Sora's hand. He scowled. "And you also shouldn't put freakin' teddy bears
before your friends."

Sora
frowned at him. "Maybe you should treat your friends nicely."

His
not-a-friend frowned at him. "What the heck are you talking about, Sora?"

"You're
so stupid, Ri-ku!" Sora blurted, holding his bear to his chest now. Before Riku
could get a chance to respond—his face was darkening rapidly—Sora continued,
"Maybe I'm younger than you, and maybe I am
girly looking, but at least I know how to treat people. My momma brought me
up right."

"You
don't have to yell!" Sora cried, clutching his hand
from where it had caught on a sharp piece of Riku's spiked bracelet.

"Whatever, leave me alone!" And Riku stormed moodily off into
the depths of his house, leaving Sora alone in the living room.

They
were supposed to be spending the night together, but Sora knew that he wouldn't
be getting any asleep unless he found his bear again. And as he watched through
the window, the rain began to pour in heaps, thrumming against the roof and
window, gathering down the gutter.

Lightning
flashed, illuminating Riku's dismal backyard, and thunder rumbled shortly
afterwards. Sora tried hard not to cry, clenching his hands into fists at his
sides, and wondering where Mr. Flufflesworth was at that moment. If he was scared and lonely, if he needed Sora.

Riku's right, it is my fault, he couldn't help but think, bowing his head and biting
his bottom lip hard. But… I just got so excited when we found that
secret cavern in the cliff face that I…

Abruptly,
Riku came back into the living room, wearing a rain slicker and a flashlight.
He cast Sora a disgruntled look before opening the door and slamming it shut
behind him.

Sora
immediately rushed to the door and screamed out into the storm, "Riku, what are
you doing!"

"JUST
STAY INSIDE!"

And
then Riku disappeared into the thick, pouring rain and was gone.

Sora
waited on the windowsill for his friend to return, legs curled up to his chest
and arms wrapped around his shins. He rested his chin on his knees, swallowing
hard and watching the rain create designs on the window as it streamed along
it.

An
hour passed by, and still Riku hadn't returned. Sora was worried for him—what
if he tripped in a hole he hadn't seen or something? Or maybe he got struck by
lightning! More than once he debated going into the rain after his best
friend, but each time he remembered Riku screaming at him to stay inside the
house, and his body refused to move.

Sora
bit his bottom lip hard, suppressing a whimper. He hoped that Riku was okay.

Eventually,
Riku did return, when Sora was nodding off to sleep. The door burst open,
carrying with it a howl of wind and water. The brunette jerked awake, climbing
off the windowsill to hurry over to Riku, who was dripping wet. His hair was
hanging in dreadlocks, and he was gasping for breath, chest heaving. Every inch
of him was just soaking.

"Riku…?"
Sora asked tentatively, wringing his hands together.

And
then Riku held up an old, raggedy bear, which was just as soaking wet as he
was.

Sora
burst into tears again. But instead of grabbing for Mr. Flufflesworth, he ran
forward and threw his arms around Riku in a fierce hug.

He
cried on Riku's shoulder for the first time.

-o-o-

"Give
me the damn bear, Sora!"

"No!
And you shouldn't say words like that, Riku!" the brunette cried, clutching Mr.
Flufflesworth to his chest tightly.

Riku's
eyes narrowed, a low growl escaping from his throat. He thrust his hand out,
placing his other fist on his hip. "Sora. I'm warning
you," he said softly, a dangerous edge to his tone. "Give. Me. The. Bear."

"No!
You're just going to do something bad to him!" Sora's lip jutted out into a
fierce pout, and his eyes were watering as he backed up quickly. He knew that
if Riku really wanted the bear, there
was no escaping him—he was stronger and faster
than Sora.

Abruptly,
Riku lunged, wrapping his hands around Mr. Flufflesworth and attempting to tug
him from Sora's grip. The smaller boy let out a shriek of fright and protest,
managing to grasp onto his legs before the bear was ripped completely away from
him.

Riku's
hands landed on its neck.

It
became a sort of tug of war, with Riku yelling at Sora to let the bear go, and
Sora yelling at Riku to let the bear go. Back and forth, back and forth—yank,
tug, yank, tug, yank, tug—

And
then something awful happened.

Riiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiip

Sora
stared in shock. He looked down at Mr. Flufflesworth's
body—and then at his head—which Riku was holding with an equally stunned
expression.

"I
HATE YOU, RIKU!" Sora screamed, so upset that he threw the body at Riku before
turning tail and fleeing.

Another
week passed in which Sora didn't speak a word to Riku, curled up on his bed
when his mother wasn't forcing him to play outside. He could only think numbly
how Mr. Flufflesworth was dead—how he hadn't deserved such a fate. How Riku was
mean, and stupid, and—

And how he, Sora, was never going on an adventure with Mr.
Flufflesworth again.

But
on the eighth day after Mr. Flufflesworth's demise,
Riku knocked on his door, and Seiya let the boy up into her son's room. Sora
almost considered not letting him in, but he knew his manners. However, he just
lay on his bed, curled up into a ball, back facing his so-called friend.

"Sora…
I… didn't mean to… do that…" Riku said softly to his back. "…And if you never
forgive me again… that's fine… But—I just… I'm sorry…
I won't ever mess with your bear again—I didn't know that he really… meant that
much to you…"

A long exhalation of breath. "…I realize now how immature I've been all these
years. I shouldn't have been so cruel to you, Sora. I should have let you grow
up the way you wanted to grow up. But the truth is—I was so jealous of that damn bear. And… Well… It's up to you to interpret that how you want
to…"

A
long moment of silence passed, in which Sora's bottom lip quivered.

"I'm
sorry, Sora…"

And
the door clicked shut softly.

It
wasn't until much later, when the sun was sinking beneath the horizon, that Sora finally rolled over to get up and take a
shower. It was then that he noticed the worn bear at his feet, patched up
entirely and looking good as new, if not a little threadbare.

His
eyes welled up with tears, and he clutched it to his chest as he slumped to his
knees and sobbed.

-o-o-

"Happy
Birthday, Sora!" With a broad grin stretching across his lips, Riku shut the
door behind him and kicked off his shoes before rushing over to plop down on
the bed with Sora.

The
brunette giggled excitedly, lips stretching into a matching grin, and as he
shifted on the bed to accommodate space for his best friend, Mr. Flufflesworth
balanced precariously on the edge.

Sora
barely paid him any mind.

"Ri-ku,
you have to tell me what my present is!" He tugged on the silver-haired boy's
arm. "C'mon, I've wanted to know all week!"

"Good.
Because I told you that I'd tell you how I really felt…" Green eyes rose slowly
to blue, and the brunette's smile faded. "I love you, too, Sora."

"Riku…"
Sora whispered, tears welling up in his eyes. He sniffed as his nose burned,
and he opened his arms, wrapping them around his best friend's neck and drawing
him closer. "Thank you…"

Finally, he thought, glad that Riku
was reciprocating his feelings. Finally.

Their
lips pressed softly together, and they slowly fell back onto the bed, eyes
slipping closed.

The
thump knocked Mr. Flufflesworth off balance, where he fell to the floor and
landed in a pile of Sora's dirty clothes. The brunette didn't notice, humming
deeply in his throat and parting his lips as Riku's fingers pulled on his chin
gently, coaxing them to part.

The
teddy bear laid there for the remainder of the afternoon, forgotten, button eyes
staring up at the ceiling blankly.

-o-o-

"Good-bye,
Mr. Flufflesworth…" a soft voice murmured, and the teddy bear was slowly
lowered into a box that he was small enough to fit in.

"Rest
well…"

And
then the flaps of the box were closing, and Mr. Flufflesworth caught sight of
two blue eyes peering down at him sadly before he saw no more.

-o-o-

Sora's
fingers drummed along the armrest of the passenger's seat as Seiya began
pulling the SUV out of the driveway, glancing into the rearview mirror to make
sure that she didn't bump into anybody.

"Are
you excited?" she asked.

Her
son turned, flashing a brilliant grin. "Well, it's time for new beginnings,
right, Mom?"

Sora
shrugged, leaning into the touch. "Well, I said good-bye to everyone earlier
this week, and Riku's going to be at the dorm with me. So I'll be fine. I just
need you and Riku, Mom. That's it."

A
soft chuckle and a kiss pressed to his temple briefly before the fingers
slipped away. "I'm glad, honey."

The
late afternoon sun shined through the windshield, turning mother and son's hair
deep reds and oranges before the shadows shifted and rays touched upon an old,
worn teddy bear buckled up in the back seat.

Sora gazed out the window and
smiled.

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